Simoncame from an affluent
Sydney family, the son of Robert Bowen, a leading
gastroenterologist. Robert helped his son buy into a
general practice after his graduation and his mother,
Aileen, bought him a lovely little sports car. His
brother John was a St. Guy's Hospital in London and his
brother Nicholas was a postgrad studies at Harvard
University. Much was expected of young Dr. Bowen and this
showed through in his cocky attitude.

He arrived in
Wandin Valley at the start of the series (in fact, the
series began when he got there) fully expecting to wow
the townsfolk and resident doctor. He was rather
surprised to find that the senior partner in his new
practice, Dr.
Terence Elliott, was in fact a highly skilled
surgeon. Simon's medical passion was tropical medicine
and always hoped to make a career in that specialized
field.

He was a fan of
Doctor Who, was very neat and clean, and loved his little
sports car. He had a pet wombat named Fatso whom he
acquired after he hit the poor little thing with his car
-- Simon tried several times to release Fatso back into
the wild but the wombat knew when he was onto a good
thing and refused to stay in the wild. His best friend
was Brendan
Jones.

Simon had strong
feelings for Vicky
Dean,
the local vet, almost from the start but she wouldn't
have anything to do with him romantically, though they
were good friends (they were even platonic roommates at
one point, sharing a two-bedroom flat). When Simon's
mother was hurt in a car crash and he rushed to Sydney to
be with her, Vicky (who was in the city for a weekend
conference) met up with him and began to realize that she
actually had very deep feelings for him as well. She
still wouldn't admit it to him and he decided to force
her hand by pretending to move away to Sydney for good.
He made sure that she knew the route he was taking out of
town and faked a break down at the side of the road. Sure
enough, Vicky came chasing after him in her ute and their
fate was sealed. They were married in October 1983. Their twins, Tom and
Charlotte, were born rather unexpectedly in a barn in August 1985.

Vicky accepted an
offer to study in North Carolina and moved there with the
twins in October 1985. Simon finalized
everything back in Australia and joined her in February 1986. He and Brendan missed
Simon's going away party because they were locked in the
morgue.